June 22nd

Such a busy time since I filled this in last. Moving to Cornwall was, I thought, supposed to introduce a slower pace to our lives, help Janis recover etc... Well Janis is so much better but our lives are certainly not slow.

We had an amazing week with Martin and Nat and Harry. The sun shone and we made as much use of that as we could. In fact it was hot and even slathered in sun cream I burned if I didn't move quickly enough. Of course in Cornwall you sit on a beach and the breeze comes in from the sea, a little fresh, enough to make you put up the wind defences, and those uninitiated in the ways of the coast find themselves burning more quickly whilst moaning about the chill.

We went to Maenporth beach and Harry and Martin splashed in the sea and tried to get the boat to float in the waves. Well it didn't sink, but it didn't really float either. Instead is spun and danced wherever the waves sent it and made Harry laugh out loud.

When it came time to try and get some feeling back into frozen limbs the cups of tea came out and limbs were stretched and a general air of sleepiness descended. Of course there has to be the inevitable selfie to record the moment.

Harry zonked out and spent half an hour dozing in his buggy in the shade.

Awake again the ball games came out. There was a party of German tourists alongside us and amongst them a young man who seemed to want to join us because he hovered watching the play for quite a while. In the end though he went back to his own family without ever joining in. He seemed most impressed with the throw and stick ball game that Nat and Harry were playing.

We went to Newquay harbour and took a boat trip out into the bay. It was a very small boat when we hit the waves which tossed us here and there. I am not normally very good on the sea when it gets a bit rough but for some reason I didn't suffer until nearly the end of the trip by which time it didn't matter if I was turning green because I could see dry land ahead.

Harry came prepared for the day dressed as Jake the Pirate

Before we could go looking for a boat though he had to do a bit of gardening with this pink lawnmower.

The purpose of the trip was to have a go at catching Mackerel. Other than our own party there was a young couple with three boys. They had a line for their party and Martin, Martin and Janis had a line each. A seagull followed us hoping that we would be successful but he was disappointed because the four lines only snagged two mackerel and both were caught within minutes of one another by the other family.

There was a lot of talk about what to do with the two fish we caught and in the end the children all decided that the seals waiting in the mouth of the harbour should be fed rather than saving them to go on Martins barbecue.

On the Friday Martin and Angelica threw a barbecue for their friends and we were invited. It was, again, a lovely sunny day.

It was a lovely evening despite my throwing a ginger beer down mum and soaking her through early in the evening. There were children for Harry to play with but on the whole he was happiest being flown around the garden by his father. Its easy to forget how exhausting it is to have a three year old, but once you see your children with their children it all comes flooding back. Good training for the Iron Man Martin....

On Saturday we went to Mawgan Beach and tried to pretend it wasn't the last day of their holiday.

The boat had sailed happily up the river but eventually it got stuck on the rocks and Martin and Harry waited for it to free itself, but it didn't,

so they threw rocks at it to dislodge it. Sadly this didn't work very well and the boat was damaged beyond repair. Think there will have to be a new boat bought before Harry is next down on holidays.

After lunch Martin buried Harry in the sand

and then Harry buried Martin in the sand...